


Home

by BabyTommo



Category: Larry - Fandom, One Direction
Genre: Angst, Cheating, M/M, Romance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-08-16
Updated: 2015-08-23
Packaged: 2018-04-15 01:55:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 5,760
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4588626
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BabyTommo/pseuds/BabyTommo
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Louis leaves homes after getting his heart broken. It's been a year and now he's back and learning that you can't run from the way you feel.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter One

The porch light illuminates the yard, making the rest of the world seem darker. 

Inside, I hear laughing and yelling, familiar voices. I close my eyes for a moment, picturing myself in there with them.

I walk up the three old wooden steps to the front door. I remember being in a similar position a year ago, but I wasn't coming home. I was leaving. At the time I didn't know how long I'd be gone, I didn't know if I'd even come back. 

The door isn't locked which isn't surprising. It's never been locked.

I walk inside and round the living room corner. There sits my whole family, cards and food and drinks decorating the table.

My mother and father are sitting next to each, like they always are. My dads hand on my mother's knee and the other holding playing cards. My uncle is next to him at the round table and my grandparents follow. My older cousin, Emma, has her back to me and her boyfriend is next to her. My younger cousins stand around the table, making faces to each other about everyone's hand. 

Of course, I could have told you that order with out looking. They've always sat like that. 

I could stand here and watch them all play forever. How they laugh and cuss at each other, how when my uncle has bad cards he taps his foot, but I've been gone long enough. 

"I'm home." I say over the noise when no one notices me.

The room falls silent quickly, everyone turning in their chairs to look at me. Emma covers her mouth with her hand and I notice a ring on her finger that wasn't there a year ago. 

My mother has tears rolling down her cheeks when she slowly stands up. 

She looks at me for a moment like she's trying to decide if I'm really there. 

I offer her a small smile and she rushes over to me, whispering "Louis." in to my neck as she pulls me toward her. 

"Hello." I laugh out of excitement and hug her back, holding back tears of my own. 

"You're actually home." She sniffles. 

I nod, breaking out into a wide smile. 

My youngest cousin, Rosie, runs up to me and grabs my leg. 

I pick her up. "Hey, Rosie. You've gotten really big." 

"I missed you." She wraps her arms around my neck and I hold her tight to my chest. 

I know I've made the right decision coming home. 

•

"You still like green tea, I hope." Emma says from my doorway. 

I look up from my window and smile at seeing her. 

She has on a red Coke t-shirt and grey shorts. Her makeup free faces always makes me smile because I know not many other people get to see her like this. 

"I haven't changed that much." I take the cup from her hand. She sits down on the window seat with me. The sky is barely lit with the rising sun. "You have though." I motion to the diamond decorating her finger. 

She smiles at my mention of it. "Two months ago." 

I think about how excited everyone must of been for Andrew to finally ask Emma to marry him. I wonder if anyone was even thinking about me at the time. 

We sit in silence until she speaks again. "You don't have to talk about it right now but eventually. I still don't know why you left." 

"Yes you do." 

"No, Louis, I don't." She says firmly. I know what she means though, she knows why I left, she just doesn't understand it. 

I take a sip of the tea and lean my head against the cool window. There's not a lot of snow outside which for November is surprising. I can still see bits of the ground that the snow isn't covering. 

"Is he...does he still live...?" I can't quite bring myself to finish my question. 

Emma nods. "He didn't leave." 

I look away from her. "I don't know why I was expecting him to, that was stupid." 

She doesn't say anything.

"How mad was everyone when I left?" 

She raises both her eyebrows, "You really want to know? Your mother was just sad, your father was pissed that you made her sad. Grandma and grandpa were convinced that you'd come home any minute. They'd always say 'today that boys gonna walk through the door, I know it'." She tries to sound her best like an old person and her ability to laugh at the situation eases my guilt. 

"I'm sorry for leaving."

She smiles, "I may never understand it, but I'll forgive you for it." 

~

I stay in my room for a couple more hours before everyone else wakes up. It doesn't look much different from how I left it. It looks cleaner though and I know that was mom. 

All my clothes that I left in the hamper in the corner of my room are clean and hanging in my closet. 

I put on a grey t-shirt and plaid pajama pants before walking downstairs. I know everyone is already down there because all the bedrooms I pass are empty. 

"Louis, pancakes?" My father asks and I nod. I know that him and my mother are planning to talk to me later, that's just how they are. 

I'm honestly surprised my grandparents haven't already bombarded me with questions about why I came back and how my aunt is doing.

Maybe they all feel bad for me.

I sit down between Rosie and her brother Hunter. 

He hasn't said much to me but I honestly don't think he remembers me. He's only four. 

My dad sets down a plate of food in front of me and my uncles sits down across from me. 

I know he wants to ask about her but he won't, at least not in front of his kids. 

When he does I don't know what I'm going to say. Honestly, she's doing great. She's living in a nice apartment with lots of room, her job isn't demanding and she has lots of friends. I doubt that's what he wants to hear though. Maybe I'll lie for the sake of him sleeping at night. 

"Eat your food, honey. You're looking thin." My grandma says and walks past me to make herself a cup of coffee. 

"Do you want some, Andrew?" My dad asks as Andrew rushes down the stairs in a nice suit, brief case in hand. 

"I'll be late, thanks though." He smiles. 

I watch as everyone goes through their morning routine. Not much has changed but yet everything feels so different. 

I don't know if it's just that I've gotten used to living with my aunt or if it's that I was a different person the last time I was sitting at this table. I was in love, I was dependent, I was stupid. 

I sip my tea, not wanting to think about that anymore. That's why I left, so I wouldn't have to. 

"Louis are you staying here?" Rosie looks up at me, a small piece of pancake in her hands. 

The question hurts a little but I smile. "I'm staying and I'm never leaving again." 

My uncles looks at me when I say this. He takes a deep breath like he's about to speak but just looks away. 

•

"Lou." 

I look up and my parents are walking into my room. I guess it's time for that talk that I knew was coming. 

I sit up and draw my legs in close to me. 

My mother sits next to me on my bed and my father at the end. I can't tell if what they're going to say will be good or bad. I have a feeling they don't have a lot of good things to say right now. 

"First, we're glad you're back." My mom starts. I smile. "Second, we need to talk about some things." 

I nod once as an 'okay'. 

"School. It's up to you if you want to go back this year, if not you can do online classes." My dad talks with his hands. 

"You can tell us after Thanksgiving, we can get you enrolled after the normal schooling starts back from break." 

I nod again.

There's a pause. I sit and wait for them to continue. 

Finally my dad does. "We aren't mad. Not anymore." He smiles softly. "We were...disappointed at first to find that you had left. We were mostly scared but your aunt called once you got there and she called occasionally to tell us know how you were. I don't think you knew she did that." 

"We were more hurt than anything." My mother adds and my father agrees. 

"We understand though, that things were really hard for you. We just hope they're better now and that can you be apart of this family again." 

Sometimes I feel like I was born in to a family that is too understanding. 

"I'm really sorry for hurting you guys." My words are almost a whisper. 

My dad shakes his head. "Let's focus future, alright?"

I agree even though being back here, back home, my mind won't let go of the past.


	2. Chapter Two

"You should talk to them, I bet they don't even know you're back." Emma says.

I look over at her and immediately hate how she always knows what I'm thinking. 

"I wasn't thinking about them." I lie and look back out the window. 

She rolls over on my bed. "Yes you were." She pauses. "You could call them." 

"I don't have a phone, I threw it in a lake." I laugh at the memory though at the time I wasn't laughing, I wasn't smiling. I wasn't feeling anything at all except hurt. 

"You could use someone else's phone. You could walk to their houses." Her voice trails off. 

"What if they don't want to see me?" I turn to face her completely. 

She looks like she's thinking for a moment before asking. "Why wouldn't they?" 

Because I left. Because when things got bad I bailed for a year and didn't tell anyone I was leaving. Because I was humiliated and hurt and everyone knew about it.

"You're over thinking it." She takes me away from my mental list of reasons. 

"I don't have a car." 

"You've always walked."

I roll my eyes at how right she is. 

"Fine." 

I change from my pajamas into black skinny jeans and a sweater. 

"I'll be back this time." I jokingly call to the house when I'm at the front door. I don't know if anyone hears me and I don't know if anyone would actually find that funny if they did. 

Snow crunches under my shoes and the sound is relaxing. It's always been one of my favorite sounds. Arizona doesn't exactly get a lot of snow so to hear the sound again is refreshing. 

I walk the long way, not sure if it's because I don't want to face my friends or if it's because I've missed the scenery. I try to focus on the memories that don't make me regret coming back here, though there aren't many. I'll always be thankful I don't have to pass his house to get to Niall's. 

The house doesn't look much different. There's already Christmas decorations in the front yard and on the house but that doesn't surprise me. I walk past an inflatable reindeer and up to the porch. 

I stop at the front door. I jam my hands in my pockets. 

If I knock it'll be real. I'll be back officially. Once I knock I can't go home and pack and run back to Arizona. I convince myself it'll be okay, there's no need to go back. I'm home now and this is where I need to be. 

I knock on the pale green door and step back. 

I run over the million different reactions he could have in my mind. I just hope he isn't angry. 

The sound of footsteps running down stairs floods my ears and I smile at the familiarity. 

When the door flings open I take my hands out of my pockets and wave them in the air a little. Kind of like when people say 'surprise'. 

"Oh my fucking god." The boy breathes. 

He jumps up and down a few times before his arms are latching around my neck. I don't even have time to decide if that was a happy or mad reaction. 

Niall is still in his pajamas and I'm honestly not surprised. Being in pajamas at one in the afternoon is a very him thing to do. 

"You fucking asshole." He laughs and let's go of me. 

"I know." I say. 

"It's been a year." He says. 

"I know." I repeat. 

"When did you get back?" He runs a hand through his brown hair. I frown at the lack of blonde on his head and I wonder when he decided to stop bleaching his hair. 

"Last night." 

He lets out a shaky breath. "I know I should be mad but I'm just so fucking happy you're back." He hugs me again. 

"Can we go inside, it's freezing?" I wrap my arms around his torso. 

"Of course." He pulls away.

Despite the small change in his appearance his house still looks similar. Only minor details have changed. 

"Have you talked to Liam? I tried calling you a lot when you first left but it never actually rang, it always just went straight to voicemail so I stopped after a while." He explains. 

"No, I was hoping you and I could go to Liam's together and yeah, I kind of threw my phone in a lake after..." I bite my lip. 

He shrugs. "That's okay. You're parents told me you were staying with a family member or someone?" 

I nod, "Yeah, my aunt. Well, she's my uncles wife but they split a couple years ago and even though we aren't related by blood or anything she still took me in." I try to make it sound as less awkward as possible but I don't think it works. 

"I'm assuming...he doesn't know you're back?" His voice is softer. 

I lick lips and look to the ceiling then shake my head. You would think being a way for so long I wouldn't get upset when someone mentioned him. 

"What's happening there?" I point to his hair to change the subject. 

He touches it again and laughs. "I didn't have anyone to bleach it for me and we both know I can't do it." 

"What about your mother or Liam?" I feel guilty for not being here for even simple things like this.

"You think I would trust Liam near my hair? And my mother's always liked my natural hair better." He shrugs. "You're the only one who's ever done it." 

"I remember." I think back to the first time I bleached his hair when we were twelve. His parents  freaked out but I think they got used to it. 

"Louis Tomlinson?" A feminine voice calls and I look past Niall to see his mother. 

She's wearing a blue dress and has a coffee mug with a lid on it in her hand. 

"Oh my, I thought that was your voice." She says and hugs me with her free arm. 

"I didn't know you were back." She beams. 

"No one did." I tell her. 

She smiled again. "I need to get to work but why don't you come by for dinner one night this week." 

I thank her for the invitation and she kisses Niall's cheek before leaving. 

"Let's call Liam." He says and motions for me to follow him up the stairs. 

I sit on his bed as he pulls his cellphone from pocket of a pair jeans on the floor. 

"Liam?" He says into the phone. 

I'm nervous about seeing him. He's different than Niall. He's different than me. He was always the more mature one, the more logical one. If anyone is going to tell me how stupid I was for leaving it'll be Liam though I know he doesn't mean it in a rude way. 

"Can you come over? And bring bleach?" Niall smiles at me and I take that as a sign that Liam's agreeing to come over. "Yes, Liam. Hair bleach."

He hangs up and sits down on the edge of his bed. 

"Do you think he's going to be mad at me?" I ask, picking at a thread coming out of Niall's comforter. 

"Honestly? Probably." He gives me a nervous laugh. 

I fall back against his pillows. That's the last thing I want but I know I kind of deserve it. 

Twenty minutes goes by before Liam's voice echoes through the house. "I'm here." 

I stand up as his footsteps grow closer. 

When he sees me, he nods then speaks. "I figured when Niall asked me to get bleach that you were back. He won't let anyone else do it, not even a professional." 

"They cost to much." Niall defends himself but Liam ignores him. 

"I'm sorry." I start but he shakes his head. 

"Don't. It's okay. Well, not really but we can talk about it later. Right now," he smiles "let's make Niall blonde again."


	3. Chapter Three

My dark room isn't as peaceful as it should be when my mind won't stop racing. 

It seems like coming back here had just triggered all my old memories to come back. I don't know why I thought it wouldn't but I also knew I couldn't stay gone forever. Maybe I just need time to adjust to being back, to having a normal life here that doesn't involve someone else. 

I get out of bed and walk over to my desk. I open the bottom drawer. I know that what I'm looking for is still going to be there because no one, not even my mother, knew of it in the first place. 

When I move a couple of notebooks aside I see it. I pick up the small square with a faded ink. 

It was our first date and I know t stupid to save movie tickets but I couldn't bring myself to just throw it away, especially when I felt that it was the start of something amazing. 

Holding it now feels incredibly different than it did when I was fourteen and all the nights I would hold it when we fought.

God, I laugh at how stupid I was then I laugh again at how dramatic I'm being. 

I grab a lighter from my nightstand and a hoodie from closet then walk outside. 

The moon is my only light source as I walk down my drive way. I told the ticket out in front of me, I can't even read anything that was originally printed on there but it's not like I need to because I remember every detail from that night. 

With my thumb I ignite the flame from the lighter and bring it to corner of the small paper. I watch as it immediately starts to burn and I drop it to the ground. 

There's something freeing in feeling like the only person in the world. That's why I like night so much. 

I sit down on the steps of the porch and close my eyes. I try to think about everything other than what I shouldn't be thinking about. I almost fall asleep with my head against a post until the sound of a car grabs my attention. 

I look up and across the street a black, shiny car is pulling into the garage. I didn't even know anyone lived there, they didn't before I left. 

It makes me think about how much has changed since I've been gone. Mostly small things besides Emma's engagement. Still I feel like I missed out on so much not being here for the changes. To not do Niall's hair, to not speculate about our new neighbor with Rosie when they moved in, to not be the first one to know every detail of Emma's life. 

I'm angry at myself for how much I let one person control my whole life, even if they didn't mean to. 

•

I hear everyone running around outside of my door. Andrew getting ready for work, Emma complaining she needs to get a job. My parents complaining there's to many people living in their house. 

"Hey, Louis." Rosie's small voice says as she opens my door. 

I let her crawl on to my bed. "Do you want to go to the store with us?" 

"Who's us?" I pull her into my lap. 

"Me and Hunter and daddy."

I agree to go with them, mostly because I'll be able to talk to my uncle, finally. It seems like it's almost impossible to speak to someone privately in this house. 

I put on a green sweatshirt and let Rosie hold my hand all the way down the stairs.

"Daddy, Louis is going to the store with us." 

"No one said you were invited." My uncle responds sarcastically with a smile and raised eyebrow. 

"Ha ha." I lift my middle finger to him when no one is looking.

My uncle and I have always been close. He would convince my dad to let me do thing my dad didn't want me to do, he would be the one at all of my soccer games since he didn't actually work in an office but from home. He was just always there. 

When we get into the car he asks me "Have you thought about going back yet?" 

I laugh at him but don't tell him the truth. "No, I'm home for good." 

He nods. "Well Rosie is sure glad to have you back." 

I turn around to look at her. She's telling Hunter about how her tooth is loose and that means the tooth fairy is coming. 

"Hunter, not so much." I add. 

My uncle laughs this time, "He just doesn't remember you that much. He's only four." 

I see my uncles face change and I know what he's thinking. 

"She talks about them a lot. Every day pretty much." I say, quieter than I was talking before. 

He switches hands on the steering wheel. "It's not- I'm just worried he won't know who Elizabeth is when she comes back." 

She talked about coming back every time she'd ask me about the kids but I don't mention it, I don't want to get his hopes up. 

"I think he will, it's his mother." I say and we pull into a grocery store parking lot. 

Inside, I push the cart while Rosie follows close behind me and Hunter sits in the basket. 

"I think Emma is really stressing over it right now with the wedding and all." He puts a loaf of bread in. 

"Did Elizabeth say anything about the wedding?" 

He shakes his head. "Emma called to tell her and then hung up on her. I keep telling her to just talk to her and let her help with what she can over the phone but Em doesn't want to." 

"That sounds like her." She's always wanted to do everything for herself and everyone else. 

When we get to the check out line I hear someone say my name. I turn around to find a girl with curly dark hair holding a basket with nothing but fruit. She's a little dressed up for a grocery store. 

"Hi." She smiles at me. 

I wait for her to explain who she is. 

"You obviously don't remember me. I'm Danielle. We met a couple times at.." She looks over at my uncle who's unloading the contents of our cart. "Parties and stuff." 

Suddenly I recognize her. It was hard to in the clear light of a store and not the dim lights of a stranger house and the haze of alcohol. 

"Oh, right. Hi." 

She looks hesitant for a moment but begins speaking again. "I heard you moved or something and it had something to do with Zayn." 

I flinch at the mention of his name. I take a deep breath and resist the urge to scream at her for saying it. "I left for a while, yeah. I'm back now though." I try to make my answer seem confident and not at all like I'm freaking out on the inside because what if she still talks to him? What if she tells him she saw me? He'll know I'm back and 

"Louis." My uncle says. 

I turn and see him, a cart loaded with bags, and a strange look from the checkout girl. 

"Bye." The girl calls after me but ignore her. 

"Are you okay?" He asks me in the car and I just nod. 

She probably doesn't even talk to Zayn anymore. If she does and she does tell him I'm back he probably won't care. It probably won't affect him at all. 

• 

I sit in the living room and stare at the window. 

"Why are you always looking out there?" Emma asks as she sits next to me.

I shrug. 

She turns to look too. 

We watch for a moment until she says "Honestly, I don't see what's so interesting." 

I smile at her honesty. 

"I think I found a job today." She says but my attention is absorbed by something else. Someone else. 

It's a guy walking out of the house across the street. He's tall and has curly hair that's pushed up off his forehead. He's wearing black jeans and a black t-shirt.

"Hey, who's that?" I interrupt Emma's sentence. 

She looks back out the window and smiles. "Oh, that's Harry." 

"Harry?" I repeat. 

"Yeah, he's nice. He watches the younger ones sometimes, Rosie loves him. He actually comes over a lot." She shrugs. 

"For what?" I watch him walk to his mailbox. 

"I don't know. Your mom invites him over for dinner a lot since he lives there alone." 

Alone? He doesn't look much older than me. 

"How old is he?" I ask. 

When Emma doesn't answer I look away from the boy and at her. She's smiling at me. 

"What?" I ask. 

"Nothing." She raises her hands in defense. "He's nineteen." 

When I look back out the window he's already back inside his house.


	4. Chapter Four

"Yesterday, a girl came up to me and asked me about Zayn." I say. 

Niall and Liam both look up at me.

"What'd you say?" Liam sets his cup down. 

I look around at all the other people filling the dinner. None of them are paying attention to me yet I feel like everyone is whisper about me. About the boy who got scared and left. 

I shrug. "She asked if I had moved because of him. I just told her I didn't really move." 

"When was the last time you guys saw him?" I don't know why I ask because I don't really want to know the answer. 

Niall, playing with his straw, says "We saw him not long ago. He doesn't hang with us much anymore. He's kind of with a new crowd now."

I picture him laughing with a group of people who all are exactly like him. I picture the blonde boy from that night hanging on his arm. 

"Have you thought about talking to him?" 

I look up at Liam like he's insane because suggesting that I talk to Zayn makes him insane. 

"No. I couldn't. I wouldn't even be able to talk, I'd only want to hit him." I say defensively.

"It's been a year, Lou." He says like it makes a difference. 

I groan and sit back in my chair. "Yeah, everyone keeps saying that." 

"I'm just trying to make coming back here easier and I believe it'd be easier if you weren't spending every second worried if Zayn is going to walk through the door." He crosses his arms on the table and I look to Niall. 

He shakes his head as if to tell me he has nothing to say and I sigh. 

"If I see him, I'll talk to him. Maybe. Probably not. There's no point anyway because we have nothing to talk about." I'm sure I could find something to say to him. I could find tons of things to say to him like he's an asshole or he's a life ruiner or I can't stop thinking about him. 

"Fine." Is all Liam says. 

•

"Mom?" I say, walking into her bedroom. She's sitting on her bed folding clothes. 

She looks up at me and smiles, waiting for me to talk. 

"Do you think we could get me a phone?" I bite my lip. 

I never told her what happened to my old one but I'm going to guess she realized I don't have it anymore. 

"If I call are you going to answer?" She lays a folded shirt on the corner of her bed over similar ones. 

I nod. 

"Okay, we'll go tomorrow." 

I'm so grateful for how understanding my parents are. I know I put them and everyone else through a lot when I left but the fact they let me do what I needed to proved how amazing they are. 

I just hope their compassion lasts. 

~ 

Sitting under my window and smoking a cigarette I got from Niall feels a lot like something sixteen year old me would have done yet here I am, almost a month away from being eighteen. 

I blow smoke out into the cold are and think, I've spent to many nights leaning out and waiting for a car with its headlights off to pull up so I could sneak away for a couple hours. 

I've spent to many nights thinking about those nights. 

It's been a year keeps ringing in my ears. It's like they think I don't realize it's been a year because trust me I know it has been. It's easy to run away and leave behind a place and a person but it's a lot harder, practical impossible to run away from the memories and the feelings that seem to follow you everywhere. It's impossible to run away from the pain someone has caused you no matter how far or where you go and no matter how long you stay gone because once you come back those memories are fresher than ever. Being here is like trying to learn to love all over again. I could have been gone ten years and I'd probably still feel this way. 

I'm trying to learn to stop expecting him to show up at my door to hang out or sneak in my window when everyone else is asleep. 

I'm trying to learn to not want those things anymore. I keep telling myself what he did was unforgivable and I know it was. I know what he did was bad and I know that forgiving him isn't even an option but those memories still feel like home and I doubt that'll ever change. 

No matter how many times people tell me it's been a year it still feels like he broke my heart yesterday. 

•  
"Will you walk Hunter and Rosie across the street and why aren't you dressed?" Em says bringing the two smaller ones into my room. 

"What? Why? And dressed for what?" I stand up and walk around them and into the hallway. 

Emma turns back to face me, putting lipgloss on. 

"We're going to dinner." She throws her hands out like she's annoyed with me asking but I just give her a questioning look. 

"My god, Lou. It's grandma and grandpap's anniversary." She pushes me back into my room. "Now get dressed and take them over to Harry's. He'll know what to do with them." 

"Louis, why can't we go?" Rosie asks and I search for a button down shirt in my closet. 

"Probably because the place is super fancy and boring and you wouldn't like it." I explain and switch shirts. 

"I can be fancy." Rosie uses her best grownup voice. 

I ignore her though and run a hand through my hair. I check myself in my mirror, khakis and and a black button up. I look decent. 

I rush to the other side of my room to put my shoes on. The children just stand in the middle watching me. 

"Why are they still here?" Emma asks as she walks past my door and into the hallway bathroom. 

I pick Hunter up and put him on my hip. "Why don't you ever talk?" I ask him. 

He just smiles and raises both his hands, palms up. 

"Right. Okay, come on Rosie." I instruct her to follow me. 

"Do you guys stay over here a lot?" I question as we walk out the front door. 

Rosie nods. "When no ones home to watch us." 

I ring the doorbell with the hand that isn't holding Hunter and wait. I don't know this guy, I don't know what's he's like or anything. He can't be so bad if my uncle trusts him to watch his children I suppose.

The door opens and I'm slightly taken aback at how different he looks up close compared to when I saw him from the couch with Emma.

He's got a young a face which doesn't help me believe that he's nineteen. He's wearing a white t-shirt that has a tear right under the collar and dark jeans. He's taller than me but not by much and his curly hair probably helps his height. 

"Hi." I say. 

He smiles, "Hello." 

His English accent was thick and unexpected, it takes me a minute to recover. 

"I haven't met you before." His head falls to the side a little bit. 

"Right. I'm Louis, I live over there." I point behind me. 

"I figured that much." He laughs and looks at the child attached to my hip. 

I laugh at myself for not realizing it was obvious.

"Are you home from college or something?" He takes Hunter from my arms. 

How do I explain that I ran away to my aunt's in Arizona because my boyfriend of the time broke my heart but now I'm back and slightly regretting it? "Not exactly." I rock back on to my heels. 

"Louis!" We both look at the house behind me. Emma's leaning out my window. "We're leaving!"

I laugh at how she looks and also I laugh out of embarrassment for being related to her. 

"I should go back." I start backing away from the door. 

He nods and his attention fully turns to the children.


End file.
